Sensation And Perception: Exam 1

Front 1

what is Naive realism?

Back 1

what you see if exactly what you get

this is the notion that we directly perceive everything (not true)

Front 2

the small amount of wavelength that we see in the electromagnetic spectrum is called the what?

Back 2

sensory window of visible light

Front 3

what is monochromatic light?

Back 3

light that consists of only one wavelength

Front 4

what is a metamer?

Back 4

something that is physically different but perceptually the same

Front 5

define chromatic induction

Back 5

the shifts in appearance in physically identical lights
that are caused by nearby lights

Front 6

describe the Receiving operating characteristic (ROC)

Back 6

represents the sensitive for a whole different set of different criteria

Front 7

describe response criterion

Back 7

refers to the tendency for someone to respond more liberally or
more conservatively to a stimulus.

Front 8

define threshold

Back 8

refers to the minimum amount of energy needed to ellicit a response

Front 9

what is psychophysics?

Back 9

relationship between physical environment into a mental perception

Front 10

define detection

Back 10

requires sensing the smallest amount of information

Front 11

define discrimination

Back 11

requires telling apart 2 stimuli that are physically different

Front 12

define indentification

Back 12

requires a participant to identify (name) a particular stimlus

Front 13

what is the differential threshold?

Back 13

the minimum amount of physical energy needed for a just noticeable difference (JND)

Front 14

define biological noise

Back 14

a neuron, presented with the exact same physical stimulation will not always respond in the exact same way

Front 15

a response expansion curve is....

a linear curve is...(duh)

a response compression curve is....

Back 15

curved up (response grows exponentially)

a straight line

curved down (response is intense at first then tapers off)

Front 16

who is fechner?

Back 16

the founder of psychophysics and experimental psychology

Front 17

define psychophysics

Back 17

the science of defining quantitative relationships between the physical world and psychological events

Front 18

who is Weber?

Back 18

discovered that the smallest change that can be detected is a constant portion of the stimulus level

Front 19

When you’ve collected data and you are trying to predict performance in between those points that’s

Back 19

interpolation

Front 20

When you try to predict performance outside the data range you have, that is called

Back 20

extrapolation

Front 21

describe the method of constant stimuli

Back 21

a predetermined set of stimulus intensities (often presented in random order)

Front 22

decribe the method of limits

Back 22

the intensity of the stimulus changed (increased or decreased) until you get a reversal of detection response

Front 23

describe the method of adjustment

Back 23

give the participant control of the intensityof the stimulusand they can adjust the intensity until they can barely see it

Front 24

what is the signal detection theory?

Back 24

a psychophysical theory and approach that quantifies the response of an observer to the presentation of a signal in the presense of noise

Front 25

define internal representation

Back 25

any kind of response as a result of the presentation of a stimulus

Front 26

what are black cached trials?

Back 26

trials where no light is shown so that you can use it to establish a participants criterion

Front 27

what is the institution review board? (IRB)

Back 27

a commitee of community members who judge a thorough application of what a particular study is going to do to protect the participants from mental harm

Front 28

what is perception?

Back 28

the translation of physical environment into a useful pattern of neural activity that can be used by the brain to guide behavior

Front 29

what is knowledge (from a perception stand-point)

Back 29

previous information is used to facilitate perception-->top down processing

Front 30

what are three approaches to studying perception?

Back 30

phenomenal/naturalistic method

experimental

physiological/biological approaches

Front 31

describe the phenomenal/naturalistic method

Back 31

an informal approach that studies naturallyoccuring behaviros and events

Front 32

describe the experimental method

Back 32

a more formal approach were you control a specific change in the environment (stimulus presentation) so you can compare the control group and the experimental group

Front 33

what is a lesion technique?

Back 33

destroying part of the brain/nervous system and observing behavioral consequences

Front 34

what are ERP's? (event-related potentials)

Back 34

boost the electrical signals produced by the brain through the scalp and skin in order to determine the underlying neural activity

Front 35

what is the BOLD signal?

Back 35

blood oxygen level dependant signal

Front 36

describe cortical magnification

Back 36

when you use the fovea (the central focus point of your retina) the brain has a lot more neurons dedicated to that region of your visual field than anywhere else

Front 37

what is physiology?

Back 37

the action potential is a spike in brain activity in a neuron that communicatesa signal to other neurons

Front 38

what is filling-in

Back 38

the process of your brain filling in your blind spot with simular stimuli around the area

Front 39

what are photoreceptors

Back 39

light-sensitive cells

Front 40

what are rods?

Back 40

photoreceptors that are sensitive to light and therefore used for darker situations

Front 41

what are cones?

Back 41

photoreceptors that are adapted to color vision in relatively bright conditions

Front 42

what are the three types of cones?

Back 42

long-wavelength cones
medium-wavelength cones
short-wavelength cones

Front 43

what is the fovea?

Back 43

your region of highest visual acuity. Why?

there are no blood vessels in front of the fovea

Front 44

if someone has 20/60 vision what does it mean?

Back 44

the patient can see something from 20 feet away that someone with perfect vision can see from 60 feet away

Front 45

define transmission

Back 45

light that makes it through a surface to the other side

Front 46

what is reflection?

Back 46

light bounces off a surface instead of going through

Front 47

what is refraction?

Back 47

the bending of light when it goes into a different medium

Front 48

what is absorption?

Back 48

the portion of light that is not transmitted,reflected, scattered, or refracted

Front 49

what is light scatter?

Back 49

when light is reflected in a directional random fashion

Front 50

what are parasol ganglion cells?

Back 50

they have large dendritic trees and thus lots of connections. they respond to changes in the environment (transient response)

Front 51

describe midget cells

Back 51

they have smaller dendritic trees so few connections. they exhibit a sustained response where the neuron fires as long as stimuli are present

Front 52

what is the lateral geniculate nucleus? (LGN)

Back 52

the LGN is a knee-like structure found inside the thalamus of each hemisphere

Front 53

what are the three layers of the LGN?

Back 53

magno = parasol input
parvo = midget input
konion = small bistratisfied

Front 54

what is contextual modulation?

Back 54

where stimulation outside of the receptive field of neuron affects the neurons response